Bad Monkeys (Ruff, Matt) 2007

When an author spends years hard at work on Sewer, Gas, and Electric (the bastard child of Snow Crash and the Illuminatus Trilogy) and then Set This House in Order (a psychological drama with a surprise ending), it's only natural that his next novel will be a fast-paced psychadelilogical trip with a multi-layered surprise ending. Bad Monkeys' page count is tiny compared to its predecessors in Matt Ruff's bibliography, but it's just the right length and you have to applaud him for knowing when to stop. However, while a fun read, Bad Monkeys feels a bit too much like the novelization of a screenplay. And heck, it could be a great movie, so now I wanna know whether it's been picked up, and if so, whether it's actually being developed, and if so, whether someone competent has been assigned to the project.